Natixis Asset Management Maintains Position in Avnet, Inc. (AVT)

Natixis Asset Management continued to hold its stake in Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,553 shares of the company’s stock at the end of the third quarter. Natixis Asset Management’s holdings in Avnet were worth $556,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. United Services Automobile Association boosted its stake in Avnet by 27.9% in the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 16,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $681,000 after buying an additional 3,621 shares during the last quarter. SECOR Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Avnet during the third quarter worth about $8,765,000. Dynamic Capital Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Avnet during the third quarter worth about $4,462,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Avnet by 109.6% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 24,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 12,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Bank of Australia boosted its stake in Avnet by 1.5% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Bank of Australia now owns 40,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,675,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. 94.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shares of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) traded up 1.23% during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $47.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 604,557 shares. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $47.38 and a 200-day moving average of $43.02. Avnet, Inc. has a one year low of $37.10 and a one year high of $51.50. The stock has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.22.

Avnet (NYSE:AVT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 27th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.01. Avnet had a return on equity of 11.16% and a net margin of 1.90%. The firm had revenue of $6.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Avnet, Inc. will post $3.20 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Avnet’s dividend payout ratio is 20.12%.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Avnet from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Brean Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Avnet in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Longbow Research raised shares of Avnet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 21st. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Raymond James Financial, Inc. raised shares of Avnet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $52.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 4th. Finally, Citigroup Inc. decreased their price target on shares of Avnet from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Avnet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.22.

About Avnet

Avnet, Inc is a distributor of electronic components, enterprise computer, networking and storage products and software, information technology solutions and services, and embedded subsystems. The Company operates through two segments: Electronics Marketing (EM) and Technology Solutions (TS). The EM segment markets and sells semiconductors and interconnect, passive and electromechanical devices (IP&E), and embedded products to a customer base serving various end markets.

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